Trust

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
6 Seek his will in all you do,
and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

Last week we looked at enrolling ourselves in Obedience School. As we work towards our degree we will need to focus on trust. Trust is probably the most important basic source of spiritual maturity. As a follower of Jesus Christ we must trust Him!!!

In the English dictionary trust (v.) is defined as reliance on somebody or something, confidently allow somebody to do something, place something in somebody’s care, suppose something, and to give credit to somebody. Some synonyms for trust are faith, belief, hope, conviction, confidence, expectation, reliance, and dependence.

Think about it....who do you follow in your daily life? Do you watch a particular network to get your news? That probably means that you trust them as a source of information (or you just like to be greatly amused). Do you listen to an influential family member or friend? That means you trust what they are saying or appreciate their perspective on things. The most basic illustration on trust is when we sit in a chair and trust that it is going to hold us up.

Why on earth would anyone follow or obey a God that they didn’t trust? Most rebellion actually happens when we as believers know what God says about something but we hang a “but” at the end of a biblical promise.

“I know what God says about this but........”
“I know God doesn’t want me to do this but......”

Whenever we do this we show our distrust and are making an excuse to disobey!

The 1st key lesson for trusting in the Lord is recognizing His identity and authority.

Psalm 33 is a beautiful picture of God and His sovereignty.
13 The LORD looks down from heaven
and sees the whole human race.
14 From his throne he observes
all who live on the earth.
15 He made their hearts,
so he understands everything they do.

We also see His authority exclaimed in Psalm 103:19
19 The LORD has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.

In Psalm 89:34 we observe God’s nature.
34 No, I will not break my covenant;
I will not take back a single word I said.

The 2nd lesson for trusting in the Lord is as it says in our opening verses in Proverbs; don’t depend on what you think about the situation but seek His will about it. The important thing about this concept is that we cannot trust God on a case-by-case basis. Either we trust and obey in all situations or we don’t. We can’t trust in the little things but not for the big things. We also can’t trust in THE BIG THING (salvation and eternal destination) and not trust in the little things like your health or finances.

If we believe that the Lord is who He says He is we should be willing to surrender to Him and commit to obey Him in all things and observe the results.

Since Jesus is in charge anyway, don’t you think it is better to walk beside Him and trust Him rather than resist His efforts to keep us going in the right direction?

Next week as we continue our discussion on faith we will look at how Peter stepped out in faith in Matthew 14.

Have a great week and may God bless you!